Di Thorley

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Dianne "Di" Thorley AM (born 1 December 1949 in Stanthorpe, Queensland) is an Australian politician and a former mayor of Toowoomba, Queensland.

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Biography

Thorley trained as a nurse in Brisbane and later took up a nursing position at Stanthorpe Hospital. She also spent some time working as a governess in Blackall. She moved to Toowoomba in 1986, where she worked and owned a number of businesses in the local hospitality industry. [1] [2]

Thorley was elected as a Councillor on Toowoomba City Council in 1997 and became mayor in 2000. She was returned to office for a second term in 2004. [3] [4]

On 26 June 2007, Thorley confirmed that she would not seek re-election for mayor in March 2008, or any other council position.

Thorley spent time running The Lady Franklin Hotel in Franklin, Tasmania before returning to Queensland. In 2016, Thorley ran as an independent candidate in a by-election for the Electoral district of Toowoomba South in the Queensland Legislative Assembly. [5] [6] [7]

Toowoomba Water Futures

In light of the region's worst drought in a hundred years, which saw the city's dam storages fall below 25% capacity, in 2006 Mayor Di Thorley championed a plan (Toowoomba Water Futures) to build a recycled sewage plant that would process the city's sewage and use the resulting water for re-use. [8] Because of health and public concerns, the recovered sewage water was to be pumped into one of the city's dams that provide drinking water, where it would be allowed to mix with rainwater collected by the dam, before being redrawn and retreated for distribution to homes. The project was controversial as the first of its kind to be proposed in Australia. The only other similar plant in existence is in Singapore which recycles 1% sewage water. The Water Futures project proposed recycling 25-29% for potable use.

A referendum determining community support for the project was held on 29 July 2006 in which a majority (61.87% of voters) said "No" to the proposal. [8]

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References

  1. "Toowoomba City Council mayors". Toowoomba Region. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  2. Fraser, Andrew; Laurie, Victoria; Lim, Anne; Warne-Smith, Drew; Wilson, Ashleigh; Safe, Mike (4 August 2007). "The inspire issue - Di Thorley". The Australian Magazine. The Australian. p. 031. ProQuest   845427265 . Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  3. Lawrence, Elissa (26 March 2000). "Thorley wins - voters turn against Bourke". The Courier-Mail. p. 1.
  4. Scott, Leisa (2 September 2006). "Beaten but bloody well unbowed". QWeekend Magazine. The Courier-Mail. p. 12.
  5. McLeod, Penny (6 December 2008). "Water reformer taps into simple pub life". Weekend. The Mercury. pp. B02. ProQuest   352937943 . Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  6. Calcino, Chris (20 August 2011). "Former mayor Di is living her dream". The Chronicle. p. 15.
  7. Tin, Jason (13 July 2016). "Ex-mayor, LNP in by-election cliffhanger". The Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  8. 1 2 "Recycled water poll: five years on". The Toowoomba Chronicle . 13 August 2011. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
Civic offices
Preceded by Mayor of Toowoomba
2000 2008
Succeeded by
Peter Taylor
as mayor of the
Toowoomba Regional Council